MTU returned to a winning  effort as they took control of the game
early and never let up. The winning effort came from MTU's depth as
the "first line" was still recovery from the over 6 minutes of 5 on 3
hockey and the more than 20 penalties taken Friday night's tie.
 
MTU  3 0 2 - 5
UMD  1 1 1 - 3
 
SAVES:
MTU Caravaggio    9   5  11 - 25
UMD Lendzyck      11   8   5 - 17
 
1st Period:
 
UMD Fitzgerald (Lendzyck) ppg 2:58
MTU Meyers (Van Tighem)  8:22
MTU Savage (K. Peterson, P. Mikesch) 14:19
MTU J. Mikesch ( Savage, P. Mikesch) 19:03
 
       Penalties:
 
       MTU Dupont tripping 1:44
       UMD Aldoff holding 5:40
       MTU Kryser roughing 9:11
       UMD Rompoldtz 12:46
       MTU B. Peterson interference 13:37
       UMD Fitzgerald interference 14:56
       MTU Roy charging 16:17
 
2nd Period:
 
UMD Aldoff (Nichowski (sp?))  ppg 12:42
 
Penalties:
 
      MTU P. Mikesch hooking 0:07
      UMD Aldoff tripping 6:25
      UMD Hansen roughing 7:51
      MTU Savage roughing 7:51
      MTU Perrett interference 8:03
      UMD Garrote hooking 12:56
      UMD Hansen 10 min misconduct 15:25
      UMD Hansen roughing 15:25
      MTU P. Mikesch roughing 15:25
      UMD Cicerello interference 19:39
 
3rd Period:
 
MTU Perrett (P. Mikesch) 11:10
MTU Prokopetz (roy) 13:06
UMD Aldoff (Fitzgerald ) 5 on 3 ppg 18:45
 
      Penalties:
 
      MTU K. Peterson interference 1:15
      MTU Wright interference 18:24
      MTU Kryser holding 18:24
 
Commentary:
 
 
 
After the penalty filled gamed of the previous night and the
extraordinary effort of MTU's goalie Luciano Caravaggio, there
wasn't a lot of hope that MTU's team would be fresh enough to
skate. One thing good about such a  previous game is that about
half of the team didn't skate. This was the half that really
came through last night.
 
UMD's Fitzgerald scored early in the game on Dupont's tripping
penalty.  Lendzyck caught MTU in line change and fed a long pass
to Fitzgerald who put the puck on the shelf.  Brett Meyers,
crashing down, on the net picked up Van Tighem's rebound and
returned it for MTU's first score. Andre Savage who has moves
that hypnotize goalies went at the net with the puck, looked
like he was going to skate behind but at the last possible
second pulls the trigger. The period ended when Jeff Mikesch
followed up a Savage rebound in the slot.
 
UMD scored in the second when Aldoff shot from the blue line
through several players.  In the third, Craig Perrett followed up
a Pat Mikesch  waist high rebound with what might have been
called a high stick to gain the game winning point. Prokopetz
finally got his first point charging in from a line change to put
Jimmy Roy's rebound in the net.  Aldoff scored on a late 5 on 3
power play to give UMD its last goal.
 
MTU did what it had to do to win: the players that played
limited special team duty dominated UMD and were shooting
the net. Lendzyck stopped the first shots but gave up nice
rebounds to players charging in behind the shooter.  Good things
happen when the puck is put on net.  Tech's passing is still
suspect.  Probably,  Caoch Mancini has extensive passing
practices to overcome this team deficiency; as result, the
players probably feel they have to pass when they should be
shooting. I agree that that Tech needs to practice passing:
several players are still color blind.  But there are times which
shot on net, even if the goalie makes a save, is more effective
than a deep pass which is either too late for the shot or goes
errantly behind the player.   UMD tried to put on pressure in the
third but couldn't deny MTU's strong young players. It is said
that during practice, the whole team often stops and gapes at
Andre Savage's skating moves. Savage caught UMD gaping
several times last night.
 
MTU picked up 5 points from a 4 game road trip to Minnesota.
Now they return home to face what may be the best team in the
nation, Colorado College.  Unfortunately, I must be in
Washington, DC,  the nation's center of college hockey
ignorance, to serve on a review panel and thus will miss the
two game series.  Dave Fisher and Bob Gilreath will have to
provide the box scores and commentary.
 
Walt Olson
MTU